I’m extremely lucky because I get to travel a lot for my work but also have the flexibility, by being freelance, to get to take time out to travel in my own time. Travel is without doubt my favourite thing and I find that I’m constantly thinking about it. I like having somewhere booked in my schedule because I find it easier to stay motivated knowing that soon I’ll be off experiencing somewhere new (scenery, culture, food, people, history).

I always get asked where my favourite places are that I’ve been to so I thought it would make sense to post that up on a blog. I didn’t have a specific amount of places I wanted to mention but for now I’ve picked 5 and I might modify or add to that in future as I feel the need.

I’ve decided to leave out South Africa because that’s where I grew up and then also England because that’s where I am based now. I’d love to hear where your favourite places to go are so please let me know either by commenting here or messaging me on Twitter or Instagram.

In no particular order and for different reasons, here you go …

1) New York City (in particular Manhattan)

I cannot really remember a time where I wasn’t thinking of visiting / experiencing New York City and it all sparked off from movies I’d seen over the years including Big, Home Alone 2, Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Serendipity, Mr. Deeds and Elf (some of my favourites). It was even more motivated after getting into TV series like Friends, Sex and the City, How I Met Your Mother and Spin City.

Anyway, my wife and I decided randomly to plan our first trip over and although I was excited I was equally as nervous worrying that I’d built this trip up too much in my head and that I might be disappointed. This all eased the second we landed there and I can remember it like it was yesterday … I was overwhelmed with the scale of everything, the nostalgia that I was feeling and the worry that the trip was going to come to an end before it even started.

Everyone talks about different parts of New York City and everyone has their favourites but for me the place I connected with most was Manhattan in particular. I loved how busy it was and I loved that it really didn’t sleep. I’ve been over there now about 7 times and every time it is the same … it has an energy that I feed off and I find myself feeling really inspired with my work and to take photographs. It’s definitely cliched to say but it gives me a sense that anything is achievable and I’m sure that this feeling won’t be the same for everyone but it’s one of the only places that I get this feeling. I’d wake up every morning and be out exploring by 6am, before most people get up, and I’d be out until after 2am each night doing the same.

My favourite places to spend time are Central Park, Times Square (6am while it’s dead), China Town, Little Italy, Lower East Side, Grand Central, the High Line and then anywhere that the water touches (so great to explore on skateboard or bicycle).

If I ever won the lottery the first thing I would do is buy an apartment in Manhattan so I could spend more time there.

2) Taiwan

Taiwan is insane in every way. My wife lived and taught English there for a year back in 2005 and I went out to visit her during the time … we both fell in love with it then and have been back a few times since.

Traveling is all about experiencing culture for me and Taiwan’s culture will blow your mind. I could imagine it being overwhelming for a bunch of people because it’s so different to what most people are used to but if you’re open minded and willing to make the most of the experience then you’d fall in love quickly. The smells are mad, the food is different, the language barrier is massive, the city is flooded with people, the beaches are beautiful, the nature parks are everywhere and the locals are some of the most friendly people I’ve ever come across.

It’s not touristy at all and finding your way around is easy enough with a bit of pre-planning and patience. We always fly into Taipei and spend a few days there before heading out and exploring the rest of the country – this allows us to enjoy the city life, traditional temples, shopping, night markets, mountain hikes, lazing at the beach and riding scooters along the coast.

Such a great place … possibly my favourite of all!

3) Germany

My family originates from Germany and I had a bit of a German upbringing in South Africa with my dad owning a German butchery and enjoying the holidays like celebrating Christmas on the 24th of December.

Once I started traveling and got the chance to visit Germany for the first time it was weird how it felt a little bit like I had arrived at my place of birth even though I wasn’t born there. I definitely felt a sense of belonging and so many great memories of growing up and spending time with my Oma came to mind. I loved that.

I’ve visited Germany so many times since then and every city is quite different to each other with my favourites being Cologne and Frankfurt (the latter possibly being more because I have close family there). Germany is great in the summer but my favourite is visiting in Winter over Christmas so that we can explore and enjoy the Christmas markets … they definitely seem so much more about family and enjoying each others time together than making money like most other countries. It’s so beautiful.

I spend a lot of time running and cycling in the forests there and it’s highly recommended to anyone who needs some fresh air.

4) Austria

I went on my first proper snowboarding trip to the Alps in 2010 and it blew my mind how much snow there actually is. We’ve pretty much gone back twice a year since then and it still isn’t boring. Even if you hate snowboarding I think anyone would enjoy the views … one of my favourite things is to just lay on my back in the snow on the mountain and enjoy the scenary and silence.

We’ve explored a few places but my favourite is the area between Salzburg and Innsbruck towards Kirchdorf, Oberndorf and Waidring. Cannot wait to go again soon.

5) Malmö

I’ve only visited Malmö twice before but I found it super beautiful and one of the first places in a long time that I could realisticall imagine myself living when I’m an old man.

I love a good coffee, pastry and a walk in the park (or on the beach) and this place allows me to do all of this with a smile on my face … what more could you ask for.

It’s so funny because I’ve spoken to a few people about this since the first trip and one of them asked if I was mad because they found Malmö extremely boring. I couldn’t understand so I asked for varification and they said that they find it too nice, too clean, too quiet, too safe and the people a bit too friendly … sounds like heaven to me. Haha. I think after growing up in the chaos that is South Africa this seems like the biggest selling points for me.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/my-top-travel-destinations/feed/0Andy and The Red Pighttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/andy-and-the-red-pig/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/andy-and-the-red-pig/#respondSat, 19 Nov 2016 16:57:58 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=6321Every now and then I shoot some personal work (when time allows) and most of the time this will be portraits of someone interesting that I meet or of someone just doing something cool … Andy is both of these. He owns and runs The Red Pig which is a pop-up restaurant that gets set up on weekends (Saturday and Sunday) on side of the road that runs between Winchelsea Beach and Pett Level. The restaurant is setup in a food truck / cabin that Andy put together with parts from around the country and inside they delicious food, cakes, coffee and tea that they change and tweak each week.

Besides the beautiful setting, the unique atmosphere and the great food, you’ll be entertained by stories from Andy and the customers that The Red Pig attracts. I love it. I wish I lived closer so I could have breakfast, and my coffee fix, each weekend.

Andy was kind enough to let me take a few portraits of him, in-between serving customers and before the storm kicked in, and this is my favourite.

This is the view from that day before the storm took over.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/andy-and-the-red-pig/feed/0Pete Wentz for Rock Soundhttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/pete-wentz-for-rock-sound/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/pete-wentz-for-rock-sound/#respondWed, 09 Nov 2016 11:11:33 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=6310I photographed a bunch of portraits of the guys from Fall Out Boy, while out with them on tour over the summer, and the guys at Rock Sound have used one of the images (of Pete) for their latest issue.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/pete-wentz-for-rock-sound/feed/0Early morning walkhttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/early-morning-walk/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/early-morning-walk/#respondSun, 30 Oct 2016 15:16:10 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=6300I woke up early this morning and there was quite a lot of fog out so I woke my girl up and we headed out for a forest exploration. Unfortunately the fog had lifted a lot by the time we got there but it was still reall nice to be out so early with no one else around and get to spend some time with my girl.

I took my camera and shot a few snaps … these are my favourites.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/early-morning-walk/feed/0Young Guns at Roundhousehttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/young-guns-at-roundhouse/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/young-guns-at-roundhouse/#respondSun, 23 Oct 2016 22:54:10 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=6280Tonight I photographed the guys in Young Guns playing at The Roundhouse and it was great to see them on top form again … although I cannot think of a time I’ve seen them and thought otherwise.

These are a few of my favourite photographs from the set.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/young-guns-at-roundhouse/feed/0New Volume tour posterhttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/new-volume-tour-poster/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/new-volume-tour-poster/#respondFri, 14 Oct 2016 13:09:24 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=6193The guys from New Volume are playing a few shows coming up and they’ve used one of my photographs on the tour poster. Excited to see these guys back and doing things.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/new-volume-tour-poster/feed/0Claudia for Iron Fist Athletichttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/claudia-for-iron-fist-athletic/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/claudia-for-iron-fist-athletic/#respondTue, 11 Oct 2016 14:30:06 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=6014A few weeks ago I spent a chilly morning in the city photographing some lifestyle images with Claudia for Iron Fist Athletic and I’m really happy with how the stuff turned out.

These are a few of my favourite images from the shoot.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/claudia-for-iron-fist-athletic/feed/0White Lies Friends album release showhttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/white-lies-friends-album-release-show/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/white-lies-friends-album-release-show/#respondFri, 07 Oct 2016 14:53:08 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=6027Today the guys in White Lies put out “Friends” and last night they celebrated with an album release show down in Kingston, together with the team at Banquet Records.

“Friends” is such a beautiful collection of music that will be the soundtrack for many of my road trips in the future. The show was a great way to start off this campaign … Such a great band playing some of my favourite oldies along with some definite new additions.

Hopefully this album serves them well and people take the time out to give it a listen.

These are some of my favourites from the set.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/white-lies-friends-album-release-show/feed/0My favourite Canon setuphttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/my-favourite-canon-setup/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/my-favourite-canon-setup/#respondTue, 04 Oct 2016 22:56:02 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=5977As you may or may not know … after 20 years of shooting purely on Nikon I decided to sell everything up and move my entire shoot gear setup to Canon. This took a lot of consideration and a lot of research which only now is starting to feel right. The first few days of shooting were a bit of a nightmare if I’m honest and I found it so unnatural in my shoot process that I started panicing as to whether I’d mad a huge mistake or not. All I needed was some time to familiarise myself with the layouts and how everything (zoom and lens attachments) are all backwards / opposite. Haha.

Anyway, it’s been 2 months now since the shift and I’m really enjoying the “new-ness” and having to explore a bit more to get comfortable with all the new gear.

I thought it made sense to post up a short blog to show off my current favourite setup which I used all of today and that is the Canon 5DS fitted with a Sigma Art 35mm f1.4 lens, Lee Filters lens hood and Profot Air Remote to trigger my Profoto B1’s.

I love her (for now)!

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/my-favourite-canon-setup/feed/0Portrait shoot with Alberto Giuriolihttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/portrait-shoot-with-alberto-giurioli/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/portrait-shoot-with-alberto-giurioli/#respondWed, 28 Sep 2016 15:03:13 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=6072I was commissioned to shoot some new press images with Alberto Giurioli and we scheduled it for an early morning last week in the city, to avoid the masses of tourists, and although it was a bit chilly out I think we really made the right call.

Alberto is an amazing pianist and composer from Italy who’s recent self-released single has already clocked over 1.3 million streams on Spotify (check out “One Note”). It was really great collaborating with him on this shoot together and after debating about good coffee we managed to squeeze one in which is always a bonus.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/portrait-shoot-with-alberto-giurioli/feed/0Young Guns album Echoes is Outhttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/young-guns-album-echoes-is-out/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/young-guns-album-echoes-is-out/#respondFri, 16 Sep 2016 09:08:37 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=5960My friends in Young Guns released “Echoes” today which is their 4th album and a great collection of music that I’ve had on repeat for the last few weeks since I got sent it.

The guys have worked really hard on this release and it was great to be included in the process again this time round … I photographed some promo images which they’ve used to support the campaign and as always it was great working with them.

Make sure to purchase the album and support real musicians (as well as good people) … at worst just give it a stream on Spotify because every little bit helps.

]]>http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/young-guns-album-echoes-is-out/feed/0Bars and Melody – Shoot 2 wrap photohttp://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/bars-and-melody-shoot-2-wrap-photo/
http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/bars-and-melody-shoot-2-wrap-photo/#respondWed, 14 Sep 2016 22:35:04 +0000http://www.marcusmaschwitz.co.uk/?p=5955Today I wrapped another shoot with the guys from Bars and Melody which was an absolute pleasure again. We photographed over 2 days at Knebworth House and although the days were really long we had a lot of fun and got some great stuff together which I cannot wait to show once it’s ready to be released.

I was assisted on this job by Juliette Carton who definitely helped me keep on top of things.